Amazon.com Essentials:
Peter Lorre made film history with his startling performance
as a psychotic murderer of children. Too elusive for the Berlin
police, the killer is sought and marked by underworld criminals who
are feeling the official fallout for his crimes. This riveting, 1931
German drama by Fritz Lang--an early talkie--unfolds against a
breathtakingly expressionistic backdrop of shadows and clutter, an
atmosphere of predestination that seems to be closing in on Lorre's
terrified villain. M is an important piece of cinema's past
along with a number of Lang's early German works, including Metropolis and Spies. (Lang
eventually brought his influence directly to the American cinema in
such films as Fury, They
Clash by Night, and The Big Heat.)
M shouldn't be missed. This original 111-minute
version is a little different from what most people have seen
in theaters. --Tom Keogh
